Noise Gate

  • Thread starter Thread starter perceive
  • Start date Start date
P

perceive

New member
Hi all,
I know (I did search the site) that there have been many posts about noise gates. I'd like to mention the gear that I have though, and see what people recommend.
Basically at the moment I have two setups.. one for recording, one just to Play.
Its more the playing one I care about.
That system is:
1 fender USA Strat with '57 reissue pups
1 Tube Screamer (maybe I will get a keeley modded one....maybe)
1 MXR dyna-comp compressor
1 535q cry baby
1 Marshall DSL-401.
(this setup for recording will be mic'ed initially with a rode nt1a but most likely eventually with a C414).
Yeah the amp could be bigger and better but then I still live in a unit so not for a while yet...and then I would like to try either a hiwatt or laney.

But anyway, if someone could recommend a good noise gate that won't suck tone, please do - especially one that will fit my system - i'd prefer to have noise than a dead tone from a pedal or rack unit.
 
perceive said:
Hi all,
I know (I did search the site) that there have been many posts about noise gates. I'd like to mention the gear that I have though, and see what people recommend.
Basically at the moment I have two setups.. one for recording, one just to Play.
Its more the playing one I care about.
That system is:
1 fender USA Strat with '57 reissue pups
1 Tube Screamer (maybe I will get a keeley modded one....maybe)
1 MXR dyna-comp compressor
1 535q cry baby
1 Marshall DSL-401.
(this setup for recording will be mic'ed initially with a rode nt1a but most likely eventually with a C414).
Yeah the amp could be bigger and better but then I still live in a unit so not for a while yet...and then I would like to try either a hiwatt or laney.

But anyway, if someone could recommend a good noise gate that won't suck tone, please do - especially one that will fit my system - i'd prefer to have noise than a dead tone from a pedal or rack unit.
Click to expand...

Please forgive me if you know this, but many folks have misconceptions about noise gates. All a noise gate is is an on-off switch (a gate) that lets signal pass through it when it reaches a certain threshold and shuts it off when it falls below that threshold. A noise gate does not filter noise out of an active signal; it will stop your instrument from hissing or humming when you are not playing, but when you are playing it has no effect on the sound.
 
A noise gate will help/hinder the shape of your sound adjusting the Attack and Release. But that is up to you.
 
David Katauskas said:
A noise gate will help/hinder the shape of your sound adjusting the Attack and Release. But that is up to you.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, it will affect the beginning (attack) and the end (release) of isolated notes, but in the middle of a note, it has no effect on the sound. I stress this because some folks mistakenly think that a noise gate is a dynamic filter that will remove noise from the signal.
 
The Hush IIC I have has a little tone knob on it so you can brighten up your sound with it a bit. It's a rack unit, so I guess the knob helps add a bit of what has been robbed through all of your rack cabling.

It's a two channel beast, so if you have a stereo rig, no problem. I run my sound in mono, so I just run one channel in my amp effect loop to get rid of my preamp noise when on the dirty channel.

It works wonders and doesn't make any weird noises.
 
With proper playing technique, shielding, and wiring you shouldnt have noise anyways.

yuk, I HATE noise gates on guitars.

H2H
 
ggunn said:
Absolutely, it will affect the beginning (attack) and the end (release) of isolated notes, but in the middle of a note, it has no effect on the sound. I stress this because some folks mistakenly think that a noise gate is a dynamic filter that will remove noise from the signal.
Click to expand...
That is correct...I should have been more specific. Thanks for clarifying.


Hard2Hear said:
With proper playing technique, shielding, and wiring you shouldnt have noise anyways.
yuk, I HATE noise gates on guitars.
Click to expand...
That's a good point. My live chain is almost silent; even when its really cranked. However, I almost always use a VST gate on my guitar tracks.

Even until recently, I had a lot of noise in my live chain. Then I moved the EQ after the pre-amp and voila...no more noise. It even sounds better that way.
 
I use a Boss NS-2 and I can't detect any affect on my tone other than when I'm not playing a note. When playing, its totally undetectable because I can set the threshold and decay myself, and make it fit my playing style.

If you can hear the effects of your gate while playing, then you've got something set wrong.
 
Hi all, and thanks for your comments..
i guess I had better clarify. I am aware what a noise gate is, but finding a pedal that doesn't affect anything when turned off is more difficult. As for the noise in my setup, well, it aint perfect, but, too fix that requires more money than I have to spend at the moment. (i.e. I am renting - buying the house of my dreams is what I am saving for, but it aint cheap!! :p )
For tadpui - you don't hear anything huh? Cool, I tried a NS2 by itself with the guitar and amp and i thought there was something not quite right :

But again maybe that was my setup...

To -=¤willhaven¤=- thanks for the heads up I had never even heard of these so I'll look into it!

Again, thanks....
 
perceive said:
Hi all, and thanks for your comments..
i guess I had better clarify. I am aware what a noise gate is, but finding a pedal that doesn't affect anything when turned off is more difficult.
Click to expand...

Well with a project box from Rat Shack, a DPDT pushbutton switch, 4 1/4" jacks, and a bit of wire you can build a simple true bypass for any stompbox, though I don't believe that a noise gate box will color your sound much if at all. FWIW, I built one and tested a bunch of stompboxes, and the results of my one admittedly unscientific test were that I couldn't hear a significant diff between the pedal off and the pedal bypassed in any of them. YMMV.
 
my friend has a digitech rp50, while not being a great pedal some of the effects are good, but i hate the noise gate! you'll be playing something, and then all of a sudden if you go really quiet, no sound comes out. i know this is how it is meant to be but i dont understand why someone would want to affect their tone in such a horrible way. even on the lowest setting its still like that.
 
As a closure to this thread, and again, thanks for people responses, I bought and ISP technologies stomp box which i find much better than the boss pedal...
 
-=¤willhaven¤=- said:
The Hush IIC I have has a little tone knob on it so you can brighten up your sound with it a bit. It's a rack unit, so I guess the knob helps add a bit of what has been robbed through all of your rack cabling.

It's a two channel beast, so if you have a stereo rig, no problem. I run my sound in mono, so I just run one channel in my amp effect loop to get rid of my preamp noise when on the dirty channel.

It works wonders and doesn't make any weird noises.
Click to expand...
The hush isn't really a noise gate. It attenuates the high frequencies when you are not playing. Kind of like a high shelf that slides up and down in frequency depending on the input. The tone knob adjusts how it reacts to the input.
 
-=¤willhaven¤=- said:
The Hush IIC I have has a little tone knob on it so you can brighten up your sound with it a bit. It's a rack unit, so I guess the knob helps add a bit of what has been robbed through all of your rack cabling.

It's a two channel beast, so if you have a stereo rig, no problem. I run my sound in mono, so I just run one channel in my amp effect loop to get rid of my preamp noise when on the dirty channel.

It works wonders and doesn't make any weird noises.
Click to expand...
The guy who invented the hush ( I belive his name is Wally) has a new line ou called ISP who make the decimator pedal, by far tthe best noise reduction out of a pedal if thats a way you would like to go.
 
I have a Boss Noise Gate Pedal Model # NF-1 that works really well.
I use it on my old 80's Mako Strat copy that
has slight.. um.. grounding issues :p
Does a good job flitering the buzz when not playing.
Boss NF-1 Noise Gate
You should be able to find one for around $50 USD or less used...
:)
 
petermiller said:
The guy who invented the hush ( I belive his name is Wally) has a new line ou called ISP who make the decimator pedal, by far tthe best noise reduction out of a pedal if thats a way you would like to go.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's the one I got - the Decimator...
 
Errr... I don't see an EQ in your chain? Whre's the dammed EQ? get a fucking EQ!!! You hear me? EQ's are niiiiice.
 
killthepixel said:
Errr... I don't see an EQ in your chain? Whre's the dammed EQ? get a fucking EQ!!! You hear me? EQ's are niiiiice.
Click to expand...
I have an eq its just not a pedal....
 
killthepixel said:
Errr... I don't see an EQ in your chain? Whre's the dammed EQ? get a fucking EQ!!! You hear me? EQ's are niiiiice.
Click to expand...
You still don't get it. all the pedals in the world will not make up for the fact that your amp sucks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top